I think there is still a part of me that acts like a kid at times. When I see an art & crafts store, I go crazy looking around the stuff and am tempted to buy everything I see around. I really need to control myself from spending on these stuff at such stores. I love to try my hands on all things creative, such as DIY projects! etc., I like everything and anything that has got creativity in it.

The other day I thought of making a DIY lotus, since lotus is my favorite flower. Back in India, our house was based upon the theme of lotus. There’d be many forms of lotus in my house- at the main entrance, living room, dining room, kitchen and bed rooms. Oh, and my garden too! I had a pond for lotuses and water lilies in my front garden. Aw… I miss my home back in Hyderabad. Sigh.

As Diwali is approaching, I wanted to make a lotus for my little goddess Lakshmi idol to sit upon. I went to the Michaels craft store which is near my house and bought some colored foam sheets and a base to use as the centre of the lotus. I made this lotus using some of my creativity to make it look the way I wanted it to be.

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Take some foam sheets and a base to use as the centre portion of the lotus. You can also use colored papers instead of foam sheets.

Draw an outline of the lotus petal on the pink foam sheet, using a pencil. As I have some experience in drawing I directly drew it on the foam sheet. But if you think you need some practice, then better try cutting it on an A4 paper first and then use it as a stencil. See whatever works best for you.

Taking a pair of scissors into your hand, carefully cut the foam sheet in the shape of the petal, inside the line. Taking this petal as a guide cut the other petals as well, as per the size and requirement of your flower.

Hold this petal and rub it in the corner of a table to make it slightly concave.

Hold the edge of the petal and slightly bend it.

It should look as shown in the picture above.

Taking some foam glue, apply it on the bottom of the petal and stick it to the side of the centre piece or base.

Pressing it tightly, hold it for a minute to make sure the petal is stuck well to the centre/base. You can also secure it with tape.

Repeat the same procedure with the other petals and start pasting them close, slightly overlapping on each other. Try to arrange them in an order where every petal is seen clearly and not covered by the front one.

Secure it with tape to make sure the petals get stuck to the base well.

Complete the flower by pasting the petals up to the thickness you want. Cover the bottom of the base with colored paper or tape. I covered it with a decorative gold tape.

Open the petals of your flower by pulling them back and secure by pressing it with some heavy object. This way petals will get open making space for the idol to be seen. I wanted to keep the back of the idol closed, so I let those petals stay straight.

For the centre part of the lotus, cut the yellow foam sheet in a circle by taking the measurement that fits in the centre of your lotus perfectly.

Now decorate it the way you want. You can also use beads, kundans or other stuff for decoration. I simply used a marker to draw rangoli (design).

Now place the decorated yellow sheet in the centre of the lotus. Your lotus is ready!

Check out the recipes of Mango Kalakand, Kaju Kathli, Poha Ladoo, Madatha Kaja, Kaju Pista Roll , Boondi Ladoo and Mango Kulfi to prepare on this Diwali!

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To make the money pot, I used an old diya pot and filled it with coins.

Simple; money pot is ready! You can also fill it with silver or gold coins 😉

Place the Idol in the centre and your Goddess Lakshmi is taken seat to be worshipped on this Diwali!

I also cut some leaves in the shape of mango leaves by cutting the green foam sheet, and drew lines with a color pencil/crayon to make them look real. I then tied them on the thread along with some plastic flowers and used it as a thoranam! I hope you all liked it! 😀

Check out the recipes of Mango Rice/Pulihora, Dahi poha, Mirchi bajji and Vada combo to prepare on your festive days!

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